feel that sting? that’s Pride messin’ with ya

Well this morning I am feeling fine, a little lighter from alcohol dehydration, forgot my belt so I’ve been yanking up the pants which makes for some strange looks.

Jenifer and I are All Prided Out for the moment, I think. Having enjoyed DC’s delights on Friday and Saturday and then Philadelphia’s on Sunday. It was a very full weekend, so much to tell… too much to tell, so I’ll try and pick out the best moments from the weekend.

Friday, dinner at Corduroy with Jenifer and Lori, then picking up Barbara to go out to a Women’s Party at Tom Tom in Adams Morgan. Damn those girls know how to party which brings me to the number one moment of Pride Weekend. A Dyke in a “Beaver Fever” t-shirt approaching me on the dancefloor and then grinding up against me like I was going out of style. I looked over at Jenifer, when this woman got between us and I’m thinking “Oh, she’s here to dance with Jenifer, no biggie” and I started to move back and she moved with ME. I was mouthing “help” over her shoulder to Jenifer since I wasn’t exactly sure how to handle that kind of situation without offending her, embarrassing myself… or both.

Saturday I managed to rouse myself and play a little City of Heroes, I made 2 levels over the whole weekend, so it wasn’t too bad. Got a bit of cleaning done and some more kitchen tidying. Went to meet Moose for lunch at City Lights and saw his most recent bruises and scrapes. We saw the feet of the Dyke March go by but I couldn’t tell which shoes were Jenifer’s (more appropriately which pair of shins). Plans were made, details gone over and a Fellowship was formed… to meet up and watch the parade on 17th st. Though some things happened that we did not expect… Moose stayed home as he wasn’t feeling well. Jenifer fell asleep from the Dyke March and was late, Greg was on time, bless his heart, and I had to hail a cab… actually, I got passed by about 6 empty cabs and finally walked over to one and got in and asked him to take me where I wanted to go. I’m so tired of having to have the right “look” for a cabbie to actually pull over and give me a ride.

Still a new friend Dwight was having a pre-parade soiree at his place and that was much fun, but we nearly partied ourselves too long and an arriving guest said “Hey the parade’s starting!” So we went out, caught Dykes on Bikes starting the whole thing off and it was a great parade, saw Rip Taylor (who knew he was still alive?) all the politicos, of course, the local bars and establishments, Chi Chi La Rue was there with Tag Adams (HOT!) and Colton Ford (hot, but stop singing), Frenchie Davis who is someone from American Idol, I think? I got some passing hugs from friends with their groups and waves and smiles from others.. I took about 100 pictures, so combined with Greg, we pretty much got the parade covered, but it was really easy to get snaps this year, it seemed a much better offering.

Then back to Dwight’s for dinner and drinks and much talking and laughing. We planned to hit Liquid Ladies later so excused ourselves so I could go change, but when we made it down there the line was around the corner reaching about a block in length, so we went with caution over valor and had some drinks and chat with Michael and his friends at The Fireplace across the way. We did keep an eye on the line, but it was clearly an “Occupancy Line” where they were only letting people in as others left. I wonder if some of the women never made it in at all.

Sunday it was up to Philly for their pride day, Jenifer and I did get started around 10:30, but traffic on the way and in the city caused us to miss the parade though we did make it to the festival, which they charge for (primitives!!) and was in a fenced off parking lot at Broad St and Washington Ave, it was very cute, smaller than DC’s I think, but the layout was cool. It was so freakin’ hot though I actually put on sunscreen. Jenifer and I met up with MiKe & Chris when we got there and had a great time walkin’ around and goofing off.

After a while in the sun we decided that margaritas were in order and we drove over to 12th Air Command, which they are now being all cool and referring to as XII a.c. Still it was a good time, the bartenders were polite and engaging (this is how we know we weren’t in DC) and the crowd was fun, we started off with Blue Margaritas (curacao, tequila and sour mix) and Red-Headed Sluts (jagermeister, peach snapps and cranberry) and tried one of our bartender Tommy’s “creations” called a Gummi Bear shot. Ok my coffee mug doesn’t hold as much liquid as these “shots” were, but it was great. My lovely and dear friend L was able to join us between her work shift and another social event and she is looking freaking FABULOUS, she’s lost weight, isn’t smoking as much and even got her eyebrows done (much as I love her, she’s always had the encroaching unibrow). And I think this is kinda tied with the other number one Pride Moment, having 4 good friends together who’d all just met one another with me as the linchpin, and they were all getting along and having a great time and I didn’t feel like I had to be the operator for conversation. (I was too busy flirting) Oh and Jenifer ended up chatting with this girl Liz who was wearing the same cute Old Navy bowling t-shirt I have, and it may have been me proclaiming that fact rather loudly that got her attention in the first place. I didn’t have much of an inside voice after that double red headed slut and the gummi bear shot.

We ended the evening with dinner at Hamburger Mary’s – this makes 3 of them that I’ve been to now (sooooooo gay), the one in Philly seems to cater to a more equal crowd of gays and straights and runs a whole lot better or at least less chaotic than the one in DC (I didn’t order a real meal at the one in San Diego, so I dunno how good they are). It was really a perfect day, the kind that I miss having, but alas I can’t have all of my friends up and move to the same place, though I really do miss the Philly area a lot.

And finally the Pride Ex-Count:

• a friend of Christopher’s at the party from which I got a chilly handshake and “we’ve met” +.5
• 1 guy that’s hit on me relentlessly in the parade +.5
• 2 guys (D & G) that I’ve messed around with in the parade, one great, one.. not so much +1.5 (hm.. I have to give G a call, soon)
• 1 guy (Al) at the Fireplace I went on a date with that “had a great time and would love to do this again” and I then never heard from again +.5
• Greg, very smart, very hot, we were dating for a while once, then we lost touch because I was juggling too many men at once, he’s still dorky hot but that ship has sailed +1

Bringing the total to 4 ex-points this go-round. I actually saw another ex when I went to the Mr. & Mrs. Smith preview with Josh, but it technically wasn’t a pride event so it doesn’t count. All in all it was a great Pride weekend, every year brings something different, I spend it with different people, change up the location or choose not to participate at all, but each year is still fun. 🙂

My photosets from the weekend: Capital Pride 2005 & Philly Pride 2005